Tiger Chasers

GOLF - THE 102ND U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

Nicklaus: They Need To Worry About Themselves

While the rest of America was taking a siesta on the couch, Jack Nicklaus watched his TV in rapt attention as Tiger Woods tooled, seemingly unabated, to his third Masters title.

One by one, the would-be green jacketeers faded, folded and flubbed. It was utterly anticlimactic, yet Nicklaus, winner of 18 majors and six Masters titles, was transfixed.

Replace those double-A batteries in the remote, folks, and prepare to channel surf. Unless a philosophical overhaul takes place among those chasing Woods starting Thursday at the 102nd U.S. Open, there could be a rerun at Bethpage State Park's Black Course on Long Island. Or, in TV terms, the fade-to-Black Course.

Only for Nicklaus, who dispatched foes via the same dogged means as Woods, was the Masters a riveting broadcast.

"I thought it was very interesting to watch how a mature, smart player plays the game," Nicklaus said, his admiration obvious. "To me, it was very exciting to watch somebody who knew what they were doing and had total control of himself, of what to do.

"And then to watch the other guys, who really were looking over their shoulder and around . . . finding a way not to be able to get there because they were worried about somebody else. And that's what they were doing. They were worried about somebody else instead of worrying about themselves."

Of course, seeing Nicklaus' shadow at a major championship caused more guys to faint than 100-degree Open temperatures, but in front, tied or a shade behind, he rarely changed his game plan. It has been two decades since Nicklaus was a favorite at a major, but the contemporary crop of Tiger chasers could learn something from Nicklaus' trusty, rusty mode of attack. Woods obviously has, winning seven of 21 majors since turning pro six years ago.

"You've heard me in the press conference asked a hundred times, `Hey, Jack, you got a great field this week; you got Palmer, Trevino, Player, Watson, they're all here and playing the field,'" Nicklaus said. "I say, `I can't do anything about them. I'm the only guy that can prepare me. And I'm the only guy that can destroy me.'

"If they beat me, they beat me. That's the way Tiger plays. That's the way Hogan played."

Versus how the Tiger chasers play, generally.

"I think that's the biggest problem of the tour at the moment, the players," said Orlando's Ernie Els, a two-time Open champion who blew a chance on the back nine at Augusta National by being too aggressive with an iffy recovery shot. "Especially guys that consider themselves close to his level. Well, it happened to me again this year at the Masters.

"I think Jack is right, that guys get kind of sucked into his [Woods'] game plan. I'm sure he doesn't play myself or [Phil] Mickelson or the tour. I think that's why there's such a big gap. I think guys have found themselves playing to his level or not to his level, but trying to compete against him instead of against themselves or the golf course."

In terms of style, some players just can't throttle back, like Mickelson, who admitted as much in March after his final-round splashdown at Bay Hill, where he lost to Woods. Mickelson prefers the swashbuckling, attacking style of Arnold Palmer. Whether it will yield a major is a matter of considerable discussion.

"The style of play that I most enjoy watching is Arnold's and it's also the style of play I most enjoy playing," Mickelson said. "I enjoy watching Jack Nicklaus play. I just don't enjoy playing that way myself."

While Woods is a Golden Bear replicant, he picks his spots in the majors.

"You have to weigh the situations," Woods said two weeks ago. "And I think that only comes from experience. . . . I've learned from a lot of my failures and a lot of my successes. You know when a situation is good and you know when you've got to be very cautious.

"There are times when even though you're trying to make up ground on Sunday afternoon, you don't really play that aggressive because of the fact that the course doesn't give it to you."

Woods' feel for red-light/green-light situations was earned on the course. Often, he yields on yellow.

"I think that what I've learned is to try and get a balance, and I've done better at weighing the situations at hand," he said. "I think that's one of the reasons why I've been able to win tournaments, the bigger ones, especially, because of my experiences."

Though Woods is 26 and could reign supreme for decades, Nicklaus believes a challenger soon will emerge. Lee Trevino didn't appear as a threat until he was 27, and Tom Watson, another of Nicklaus' primary rivals, botched a number of major championships before breaking through.

"All of a sudden he figured out why," Nicklaus said of Watson, who won eight majors. "So these guys will figure out why. They're not idiots. They're good players.